The North America Nebula

20:10 21/8/2009 UTC

Finally got my H-alpha filter and immediately had clear night to finish this project. Now totalling over eight hours of exposure I think I've completed the project. The SII signal is a bit weak, but still enought to contribute color to the image. Processing these narrowband images is tough. I made color channel using all the data and luminance from Ha+OIII image. Conditions vere nice, no moon and quite warm. Update 21/10/2009: Inspired by the results with Heart Nebula, I reprocessed this also using Tone Mapping technque. The best outcome from this processing method is absence of purple halos and absolutely fantastic color handling.

[High Resolution]

Camera: Atik Instruments 4000LE | Telescope: Skywatcher ED80 Pro 80mm f7.5 refractor, William Optics 0.8x focal reducer | Mount: Vixen GP-D2, Boxdoerfer PowerFlex MTS-3SLP drive controller | Filters: Baader H-alpha 7nm 2", Baader OIII 8.5nm 2", Baader SII 8nm 2" | Guiding: , The Imaging Source DMK 21AU04.AS CCD camera, Orion ShortTube 80mm f5 refractor, Stark-Labs PHD Guiding | Exposure: Ha 18x600s (3h) unbinned, dithered, CCD @ -10° f6, OIII 18x600s (3h) unbinned, dithered, CCD @ -10° f6, SII 13x600s (2h10m) unbinned, dithered, CCD @ -10° f6, SII:Ha:OIII Mapping (HST Palette) | Software: CCDWare CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Stark-Labs Nebulosity 2 | Location: 60°31'N 26°52'E (Koivula/Kotka,FI)